F*ck! What the hell happened again?!
The sharp, chaotic noise instantly sent Zheng Ren’s entire system into overdrive.
His blood pressure and heart rate skyrocketed.
This was a common reaction during emergency situations. Therefore, most doctors and nurses working in the emergency department had varying degrees of arrhythmia and required metoprolol tablets to relieve their symptoms.
Zheng Ren experienced palpitations, chest tightness and dyspnea, but the urgency forced him to ignore them as he stood and rushed down to the emergency department.
When passing the nurses’ station, he simply informed them of where he was going and instructed them to call him in case anything happened. Then, he ran to his destination at full speed.
Onlookers were staring at a commotion in the halls and the corridors, which were filled with a cacophony of smells—disinfectants, the acidic stench of vomit and the metallic scent of blood.
The tenseness silenced everyone except for a few ignorant children whose hysterical crying rebounded off the walls and echoed throughout the emergency department like an aria.
Zheng Ren weaved his way through the crowd toward the scene.
What in the world had happened? Was it a cardiac arrest or sudden cardiac death? Had someone ingested paraquat, necessitating immediate treatment, or…
Countless thoughts whizzed through his mind.
Hesitant and afraid, a few security guards stood outside the medication store of the emergency department treatment room.
Upon seeing Zheng Ren’s arrival, the lead security guard approached him with a bitter expression and whispered, “Chief Zheng, a man is stealing narcotics.”
An invisible fist seemed to clench Zheng Ren’s heart and slow his heartbeat.
It was not a rescue operation, but just as troublesome as one.
After the leniency in narcotics control many years ago, drug-related crimes had constantly afflicted China.
However, as regulations became increasingly stringent, at least two men were required to safeguard the keys to the drug storage room as if the drugs were top-secret documents in the National Bureau of Investigation and Statistics. If absolutely necessary, a doctor licensed to prescribe drugs would write a prescription, which was then reviewed by two nurses before the patient could receive any.
In addition, every empty ampoule had to be returned in exchange for new drugs.
Due to the implementation of strict regulations and constant anti-crime activities, evil forces had been forced to stay out of trouble and hide in the dark.
Today’s incident had not occurred in a long time.
Zheng Ren pushed the crowd aside and saw an ashen-faced nurse covering her mouth with trembling hands and huddling up in a corner of the treatment room, trying desperately to swallow the fear in her throat so her whimpers would not provoke the robber.
Her knuckles were visibly white with effort.
An emaciated man about one meter seventy was trying to unlock every drawer and cabinet with the keys in his hand.
There was a black tattoo on his arm, but it was so badly inked that Zheng Ren had to observe very closely before being able to vaguely make out a dragon.
A watermelon knife in his left hand danced in rhythm with his uncontrollable muscle tremors.
Zheng Ren knew that anyone who exhibited such behavior was dangerous and beyond reason.
He had no clue how to handle this situation. Whether it ended in peaceful resolution or bloodshed depended on his decision now.
How would this end? No one knew the answer.
“Why can’t I open it?!” mumbled the young man angrily after numerous failed attempts at unlocking the drawer. His voice sounded so croaky and slurred that both Zheng Ren and the nurse curling up in the corner failed to understand his words, let alone communicate with him.
He then picked up a bottle of normal saline and hurled it at the nurse in the corner.
However, his uncoordinated movements diminished his accuracy and the bottle ended up hitting a cabinet with a loud crash.
The sound of shattered glass was so harsh that the nurse huddling up in the corner quickly covered her ears and screamed at the top of her lungs.
The scream seemed to provoke the young man, who had completely lost his mind. With bloodshot eyes, he pointed the knife at the nurse and mumbled something Zheng Ren could not catch.
Seeing the situation going out of hand, Zheng Ren kicked the half-closed door without giving a damn about the consequences.
“Boom!”
The young man, like a wild beast acting on primal instinct, was instantly attracted by the thunderous noise.
He turned around and fixed his gaze on Zheng Ren.
Muscle spasms contorted his face, causing a fine trickle of drool to leak from the corner of his mouth. That, coupled with the meaningless groans from his throat, was indeed a horrifying sight.
Despite it being his subconscious that drove him to draw the young man’s attention, it still sent a shiver down Zheng Ren’s spine.
In the emergency department, he had encountered ruffians, unreasonable families and troublemakers.
However, none of them had ever been as dangerous as this irrational young man right now.
“Spread out, move away!” Zheng Ren vigorously waved his arms and instructed the onlookers to back off.
The security guards had enough professionalism to know that if the man went crazy, he would spark a bloodbath in the emergency department.
Expecting the onlookers to overwhelm the lone man with their huge numbers… was practically impossible.
“Spread out! Move out of the way!” The guards assisted Zheng Ren in dispersing the crowd.
Those who had spider-sense and detected danger earlier quickly backed away.
However, the gap they left behind was immediately filled by even more nosy parkers.
Zheng Ren’s heart was consumed by bitterness as he faced the irrational young man and the ignorant crowd of fascinated spectators.
The thick wall of onlookers extinguished his last hope to make a run for it. Not only would he be unable to push the crowd aside if he attempted to escape, but any attempt would also inevitably put patients and their family members in harm’s way…
The consequences would be catastrophic!
Zheng Ren’s back was already against the wall when he tried to take two steps away.
A savage smile appeared on the man’s face. He pointed the knife at Zheng Ren and tried to mutter something, but he simply could not put his thoughts into words in his current state of mind.
‘I’m wearing only surgical attire and a white coat. Would it be better if I had a cotton-padded coat on me?’ Like any ordinary person who faced danger, Zheng Ren’s mind wandered elsewhere and a completely irrelevant thought popped into his brain.
He was not a martial artist and simply lacked the capability to defeat the robber alone.
He had attracted the robber’s attention and given up the idea of fleeing the scene solely because of his firm adherence to the principle of humanity.
When the feral robber walked out of the treatment room, knife in hand, only then did the bystanders in the front understand what was going on.
The crowd shrieked and scattered immediately.
The children’s hysterical crying and the screeches of terror created chaos, resonating violently in the air.
Zheng Ren scanned the area and tried to find something to defend himself. However, the red, hard plastic benches were welded to the ground precisely to prevent them from being used as weapons in conflicts.
How about the office? That was too far and he would never reach there safely.
The young robber seemed to have completely lost his sanity and forgotten his initial purpose of visiting the emergency department.
‘That f*cking doctor is trying to stop me. Kill him!’
That was all that filled his mind.
Raising the watermelon knife, he rushed at Zheng Ren with murder in his eyes, but after two steps, his legs suddenly gave way and he stumbled.
